Desperate Lives

Until today I couldn't remember what the name of the movie was but I remembered the girl from Mommy dearest being in it. I finally pulled out IMDb and looked. All i really remember from the movie was the girl (apparently Helen Hunt) flying through a window. While some will classify this as a "warm fuzzy about saying no" I can say that that scene is EXACTLY what scared me to the point of NOT doing hard core drugs... I dabbled in pot when i was 13 or so and did so for awhile but I would never go harder because i was scared of how I would react. So in my case this movie did its job. I am sure kids today would see it as cheesy but in 1982 I was 6 so i would venture to guess i saw it when i was probably about 10 and it scared me to think those things could happen. I grew up in a small town not knowing about drugs and this really opened my eyes. I can't wait to see it again as i only saw it that one time YEARS ago.

This movie, a lovely "just-say-no" message wrapped up in a thin plot, contains more unintentional humor than anything else. Things to look for: Kids making PCP in the high school chemistry lab. Helen Hunt diving headfirst out of a second-story window (after her boyfriend convinces her to try his homemade PCP). A locker check (in a small-town high school) that turns up more drugs and paraphenalia than the evidence room at a busy LAPD precinct. The entire student body realizing what terrible things drugs are and adding another twenty pounds of assorted stuff to what's been pulled out of the lockers and burned. This movie isn't quite as trashy as "Reefer Madness," but it's in the same ballpark.

Desperate Lives is one of the first movies my family every recorded on our VCR. I was 6 years old when this movie first came out, and I am not sure how old I was when I watched this movie for the first time, but I continued to ask if I could watch it again and again. I continued to watch this movie into my junior high and high school years.

This movie dealt hard with the drug topic and was very relevant for the times. I no longer own a copy of this movie, but would love to see it again. I think it is a great movie where parents or teachers could talk to their kids about drug abuse and their effects and peer pressure.

Because it has been so many years since I have seen this movie, I did not realize that the counselor was Helen Hunt, but I do remember that I was always very impressed by her character.

I cannot believe that one comment I just read for this one, that this piece of junk is "powerful" and "realistic" - WHAT?! This utterly awful TV movie is pure, 100% hokum. I went to high school in the '80s, when this thing came out and this TV movie seems to have been made on another planet by aliens who had absolutely no contact with real teenagers. I wish I'd seen this then - I could have used the laughs. But at least it's acquired a thick patina of camp value over the years, what with its beyond-earnest, totally out of touch plot and dialogue. This is the "Reefer Madness" of the '80s. Helen Hunt's PCP suicide/freakout is a pee-in-your-pants crack-up. (I don't suppose they'll be showing that clip when she's up for the AFI Lifetime Achievement Award, should that ever happen.)

I remember that it was quite bad acting, typical for those ABC After school Specials; however, we get to see a young Helen Hunt and Diana Scarwid (post "Mommy Dearest"), in all her over-acting! It doesn't come across quite humorous and unrealistic at many points. I mean, you knew kids were doing drugs in high school but for the counselor to go through all their lockers during an assembly, then emotionally storm into the assembly and light the drugs on fire was way over the top! As far as the poster who mentioned Helen Hunt and her scene being deleted during her better times, actually, I remember when she hosted "Saturday Night Live" in the early 90's, after she had her comeback hit with "Mad About You." She did a clip where she was doing something and then she walked over to a window, then the next shot was the inserted footage from this movie where she has her "PCP freak-out scene" and goes through the window! It was pretty hilarious! Anyway, those Afterschool Specials always meant well!